The best after effects basic YouTube video animation tutorials for beginners

I’ll admit that I’m a sheep. I was the kid who was continually whining to his parents, “But all my friends are doing it!” And yes I was voted most likely to jump of a cliff if someone else did it first. I can honestly say the main reason I learned motion graphics was because all the cool kids where doing it.

Take one of my visual journalism heros, Zach Wise. When he started posting videos on his blog that had that little extra “something” in them, I wanted that in my pieces. Another cool kid at the time was Mediastorm. I’ll never forget watching RJD2 “1976” on the Mediastorm website. It was jaw-dropping. That piece pushed me over the edge. I wanted some of that eye-candy in my pieces.

I was now ultra-sensitive to this kind of “presentation” and subsequently noticed more and more videos using motion graphics. More often than not, I would see something provocative and ask myself, “How did they do that?” After many hours Googling, everything pointed to After Effects. My journey of discovery was over, it was time to venture onto learning this program.

I’ve only been dabbling in AE for about 2 years. I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but I’m having a great time on the journey to mastery.

Despite the headline to this post, I’m not advocating you learn this program, just because I said so. Everyone gets excited about producing different stories on different levels, with different tools. BUT, if you are interested in exploring the power of AE and want to know how to get started and where to go first, then this post is for you.

Here’s how I’ve broken this post down. First I’ll give you the tongue-in-cheek reason why you should learn AE, then I’ll move onto inspiration, resources and tips.

Adobe after effects WHY?

Ok maybe I’m like a cat with a new toy, swatting uncontrollablyÂ in every direction, just becasue it’s there, but I think AE is the tool of the future for serious visual story tellers. Take that with a grain of salt, of course.

Many documentaries, and videos employ AE as a story telling tool. More and more of my freelance work is in the motion graphics sector. I’m seeing the economic value as well as an artistic value.

The somewhat tongue-in-cheek reason is because all the cool kids are doing it.Â Just check out the screen shots below taken from the awesome blog http://www.innovativeinteractivity.com run by Tracy Boyer and her informative feature calledÂ Innovative Individuals. This is what MANY of those cool kids interviewed by Tracy put on their to-do lists: